Broken Wings
by BackyardFantasy
Summary: Take these broken wings, and learn to fly again and learn to live so free. And when we hear the voices sing, the book of love will open up and let us in. Take these broken wings. You got to learn to fly and learn to live so free. Daryl/OC
1. Chapter 1

**The Walking Dead  
****Broken Wings  
****by BackyardFantasy**

**Chapter One: Wake Yourself Up**

* * *

Three months ago. That's when the world went to shit.

Three months ago, a virus spread across America, across the world. Life as they knew it was gone forever. No longer did the world belong to humanity. The world belonged to the dead.

We humans, we were just living in it.

See, survival's a funny thing. One minute, it'll be holding out its hand to help you up after being tripped. The next thing you know, it could stab you in the back and watch the dead eat you alive. Keeping survival on a leash was always the best way to go. It was the best way to ensure that you wouldn't be on the menu.

The dead ate human flesh.

They weren't like those stupid things that you'd see in movies. You know, unable to see or smell those who were alive, only telling by hearing or something. These things, these… Walkers. They could tell those living from those dead by sight, smell, hearing, and, although this is suicidal, touch.

All those who survived the initial attack fled. They scattered like frightened mice. It was a pitiful sight.

They were torn apart in the streets. If they managed to survive, they turned only a little while later. They became another part of those drooling freaks that lived off of the taste of humans.

Everything else that happened was nothing short of chaos. Children turned and ate their parents. Parents had to pull the trigger against their kids. Families were ripped apart with one touch. The world was in ruins.

"This is just like the movies." I turn to see my little brother, Willy. He and his twin, Shawn, are sitting around the oil lamp. The two of them are fifteen, and had been the fastest teens on the track team, plus great pranksters and thieves. Those two qualities, I'm not sure where they picked those up. Both Willy and Shawn had similar senses of humor, finding pain to be somewhat funny, especially when people got hurt in stupid ways. At least they don't find this funny. "You know, the group of survivors that live through the initial attack and all that bullshit?" Willy reminds us.

Dean, my twenty-four-year-old brother, ruffles Willy's hair. "Language, little man." Willy scowls and swats at Dean's hand. Dean just chuckles, as if his strong sense of humor never died. It hadn't died, not even in all of this. He always tries to make us all smile. His bat is lying next to him as he pulls away from the scowling Willy.

My little sister, Alison, scoffs at the two of them. Ever since she got back from college to this insanity, she began turning bitter. Her freshman year of college was interrupted for something straight out of a horror movie. She'd always had this strange fascination with death. Yet now that she was faced with it, she turned sour and she began to hate everything and everyone. "If you're comparing our lives to a horror movie," she began, "then you should skip to the part that where the big reveal is that we're all screwed and we're all gonna die."

Joshua, who is twenty-seven, and Kira, twenty-nine, both glare at Alison. She gives them glares. Lobo, our dog that accompanied us, gave a little whine at the clear tension in the air. "All of you, shut up," I demanded. "We've survived this long. We're going to be fine, and you know it."

"Reina's right," Josh adds. He was the most serious of all of us, a true survivor. He was raised in the wilderness, hunting since he was able to shoot a gun. He was the only one of us to handle a shotgun. But since we couldn't find a shotgun, he'd had to make do with a simple handgun we got from raiding our local police station. "We should just keep pushing on. It's how we've gotten this far."

Nodding, Kira agreed. "Ali, don't be a pessimist. Just remember that we're all still alive, okay?" Kira was always an optimist, looking on the bright side of life even if there wasn't one to be found. Because she was the oldest, she kept the rest of us in line. She was, honestly, terrifying when she had to be.

Alison just grumbled in response. She stood and dusted off her jeans. "I'm going to sleep in the back of the Explorer."

That was Josh's car. He was, at the very least, proud of that car. We'd taken my car, the family pick up truck, Dean's car, and Josh's car. Josh drove around with Willy and Shawn in the back. Dean gave Ali a lift. Kira was left to drive the pick up, which was connected to the horse trailer. We hooked up the only trailer that would fit all seven of our horses.

It was a hard decision for some of us. Dean, Ali, and Josh wanted to leave the horses. They thought we couldn't take them with us. But the twins were attached to our animals, the ones we raised, and Kira and I never could've left without our own stallions. We took seven, one for each of us in case of emergency. We each took the one we were closest to. There were six other horses. We couldn't take them with us. I wasn't sure what happened to them afterwards

We escaped and headed south. Our parents had a summer home that was all the way down in Florida. That's where we were going. We'd come from Louisville, Kentucky, up to New York, back to Georgia. We were right outside Atlanta.

It was supposed to be safe. That's why we were there.

I sighed as Ali stormed off. Willy and Shawn both had their eyes on me. I nodded to the twins. "Go on, get to bed. It's late." Willy started to complain, but I scowled. Shawn stood without complaint and his brother soon followed.

Dean looked over to me with a frown. "You're still treatin' those boys like they're just kids, Reina."

"They are kids, Dean," I shot back, a scowl still plastered all over my face. "Just because they're fifteen doesn't mean that they're adults yet. They're still our little siblings and we gotta look after them."

He waved a hand, trying to get me to be quiet. "I'm _not_ talkin' 'bout their age. I'm talkin' about the fact that those boys have seen more shit in this world than I did when I was years older than them."

Scoffing, I replied, "You're only nine years older than Willy and Shawn. We've all seen shit these past few months. We all just gotta learn to get over it. This is the way things are now."

"I get that, Rei, I really do," Dean muttered. "But where're we s'pposed to go from here? I know you said Florida, but d'you really s'ppose we're gonna make it that far?" I opened my mouth to say something, but he cut me off. "I'm not sayin' we ain't. I'm just sayin' that we gotta stop somewhere. We're only a few miles from Atlanta, I heard there's some sort of… refugee center or some shit there. We could check. Maybe just see if there's others…"

Kira shook her head. "Even if there are others, we're safer together. On our own. Less people means more resources. It means we might stand a chance to survive the winter."

Dean only shook his head fiercely. In a hushed whisper, he growled, "I refuse to send Rei or the twins out there again. Next time comes around, one of 'em might not make it back, or if they do, all seven of us might die. We're gonna be needin' other people sooner or later, and later, they might not be willin' to help us."

Looking over at the Explorer, I sighed. "Josh, can you go watch the twins and Ali? Make sure they don't do something stupid?" The older boy nodded and walked away from the light. "Dean, you listen to me and you listen good. We're not going to die. What we will do is check in on Atlanta. Me and you will take my car in. Ali can drive your car around, with Josh and Kira, and meet us on the other side. That's what we're gonna do."

He looked satisfied with my plan. "I get to bring along the slugger?" he asked, clearly excited. I just nodded in reply. "Sweet." Kira rolled her eyes, and we exchanged a look. Dean hated anything that had to do with gore or carnage.

My brunette older sister asked, "Don't you hate killing?" Dean just shrugged. He stood and grabbed his brown jacket, slinging it over his shoulder. Kira followed suit, picking up her jean jacket and the blanket she'd been sitting on. "Get to sleep soon, Rei. God knows what the hell's out here at night."

"No, Kira. I don't think even God knows." She sent me an exasperated look, but I just smiled slightly at her. "I can take care of myself, Kira. Don't worry, just get some sleep." She gave me a warning look, but left the clearing.

The minutes passed. They were sleepless minutes, ones that were becoming more and more common. Ever since the outbreak, sleep had become a luxury. It was a luxury that the seven of us could no longer afford. I would take watch that night.

At least nothing bad happened for one night. One mercy we earned.

{ the walking dead }

Atlanta, at first glance, looked deserted. Like there was nothing there, nothing we had to worry about. It was empty.

That's what we'd thought, at least.

Fifteen minutes after we entered the city, Dean and I were driving around, through alleys and other places, trying to get to the other side of the city.

"Left, go left!" Dean yelled. I pulled the wheel, making a hard left as another member of the Dead crawled out in front of the car. "Jesus!" he swore, staring out at the herd of walking corpses just outside our window. "I thought Atlanta was supposed to be safe!" he complained.

I growled a little, bowling a few of them over. "God damnit, Dean, it was! This place was supposed to be the safe place for the survivors!"

My brother let out a yelp as I swerved again, stopping after a gate. "They're doing a peachy job of keeping it safe, huh?" he asked dryly. He looked forward and let out a gasp. "Stop, stop, stop!" The car's tires screeched to a halt, right in front of an Asian boy no older than myself.

He scrambled forward, bags slung over his shoulder, and eyes wide with both fear and shock. He stuttered a bit. I rolled down the window and snapped, "Get in unless you wanna be zombie food!"

The boy did so, quite easily, in fact. He scrambled into the backseat, almost stepping on Dean, who growled a little at him. The boy was breathing heavily as I pulled away, running over a few more of those undead bastards.

"What's yer name, kid?" Dean asked, pulling out his gun, an SIG Sauer P239. The boy gulped, eying the piece in my brother's hands. "Well, if you ain't gonna introduce yourself, I'll go first." He pointed to himself. "I am Dean," he drawled, slowly, as if speaking to a child. "That Reina. Reina is sister."

The young Asian boy glared a little. "Dude, I'm not a Neanderthal," he deadpanned, pursing his lips impatiently. Dean let out a hearty laugh at his response. "Glenn. My name's Glenn."

I chanced a look back at them and grinned. Dean was casually cleaning his gun with his Louisville slugger lying on top of his lap. Glenn was just looking majorly uncomfortable, shifting while near the bags that held the weaponry that we'd managed to collect. He clearly didn't know that there was food and clothing inside the bags, too.

Glenn shifted again, fidgeting with his hands. He looked around. "So… um… why are you guys here?"

Dean smirked a bit and replied, "Thought we'd enjoy a bit of vacation before school kicked up again! Didn't think we'd be stuck here like this, though." Glenn gave him an incredulous look.

Looking back, I grinned. "Sorry 'bout him, Glenn. Dean's a joker, he's dumb, but he's my brother. As he said, the name's Reina. We actually came here to find a safe place for us." My grin dropped off my face. "Clearly, that didn't work out."

Nodding, Glenn moved once more, looking around the car. "Sweet ride you got."

I patted the steering wheel fondly. "It was my dad's once upon a time. Gave it to me for my seventeenth birthday. I'll be damned if I left it behind when this shit storm happened."

"Ain't that the truth," Dean groaned. "It was damn near impossible to get her away from the thing."

Glenn chuckled, but didn't say a word. He seemed to be thinking as he glanced out the back window. All color began to drain from his face when he saw the hoard still after us.

"Oi, Glenn." His head snapped to look around at Dean. "Ya livin' somewhere safe?" Glenn paused. "Yer clothes ain't dirty and neither are you. Me and Rei, we been goin' and goin' for weeks on end. If ya got somewhere to go home to, where you can sleep safe."

Glenn hesitated. "Come on, Glenn, we're no threat."

"A quarry. A little ways out of Atlanta. There's people, food, and protection. It's nice," the boy confessed, twiddling his thumbs a little.

Dean and I exchanged looks. We'd gotten the information we needed. "Okay. We've got a few other people that we're meeting outside the city. They're our family, and they're just as exhausted as us."

Glenn nodded. "I'll give you directions. I may not be able to handle a gun very well, but I know the city like the back of my hand," he bragged with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah, we got it, Columbus."

{ the walking dead }

The quarry was all safe. At least, as safe as it got.

It'd been about three months since we got to the quarry. At first, we weren't welcomed with open arms, but people slowly came to accept that we weren't going anywhere.

At least they were grateful that we saved Glenn.

Glenn was only a few years older than me, around twenty-three or twenty-four. He and I bonded pretty quickly, messing around when we had time, but staying serious. I constantly worried he would get himself killed on a run.

There were dozens of other people there, too.

The leader, however, was clearly Shane Walsh. He was a former officer, a deputy, in fact, of King's County, wherever that was. Kira seemed to like him a lot. He was a looker, but he was also pretty scary when he had to be.

He was almost always seen with Lori Grimes or her son, Carl. Apparently, she was married to Shane's best friend, Rick. Rick was dead, and had left Lori and Carl behind. Shane rescued them and took them out of the city. At least, that's what she told me. Carl was adventurous, and he always seemed to be able to get himself in trouble. Thank God he had Shane and Lori looking out for him. Although… Lori's parenting skills left much to be desired.

Then, there was T-Dog. His full name was actually Theodore Douglas, but he preferred to be called "T-Dog." He was a bulky African-American with a huge heart. He was clumsy, yes, but he was a very sweet person, always looking out for the women and children and always volunteering himself for a job. Next, there was Dale Horvath. Dale was an older gentleman, always wearing this fishing hat, and always sitting on the Winnebago that he drove. He was nice, and all of us took to him.

Jacqui and Jim were two survivors that I liked a lot. Jacqui became pretty close to Kira pretty quickly, and soon enough, the two were chatting it up like they'd been best friends for years. Jim and Josh also got along relatively fast, although both of them were kind of quiet, so there was never a lot of conversation going on when those two were together.

Andrea and Amy Smith were two girls, sisters, in the camp. L, They were saved by Dale when Atlanta went down. Andrea was born twelve years before her sister, but the two were all they had left now. Andrea and Jacqui were a group, and Kira fit in with the women pretty quickly. Amy, however, became closest to Dean. Amy was young, blonde, and beautiful, and her personality was stunning. It was honestly no wonder that she and Dean got together so quickly. It was refreshing to see.

There were two other families in the camp. One of them was a family of three, the Peletier family. There was a mother, Carol, a father, Ed, and their daughter, Sophia. Carol and Sophia were wonderful, really, truly great people. Carol also hung around Jacqui and Andrea, along with Kira and Lori, doing the chores. Sophia spent most of her time with Carl, the twins, and the other children. However, Ed was the one I had a real problem with. He was a fat, lazy, chauvinistic pig that spent his time smoking and ogling at the women. The bruises on Carol's arms were evident enough; he abused his family, as well. That was the worst.

The other family that I got at least a little familiar with was the Morales family. Michael Morales, the man of the family, spent a majority of his time with Dale, Glenn, or Jim, or with his family. Miranda looked after the children, including her own, Eliza and Louis. They mostly kept to themselves, but I knew that they were good people.

Glenn spent his time, when he wasn't on a run, with me, taking care of the animals and divvying up the rations of food. Lobo was more or less the watchdog, fitting right in among the chaos, and giving the kids some entertainment. The horses were well mannered, mostly keeping to themselves and never complaining about the lack of open air.

Oh, there was one more family there.

They were two brothers, the Dixons. Everyone in camp warned us to stay away from them, that they were trouble. The older one, Merle, was always angry, yelling about something or other. He was a real pervert, always gawking at the younger girls. He was vulgar, and everyone disliked him. He was more or less on drugs and drunk, always seeming to be on a high.

The other brother was Daryl. He was… different. Sure, he was also an angry redneck, but he was quieter, and he seemed to care about feeding us. But he only ever talked to his brother. He didn't seem to do drugs, but he still seemed dangerous and angry, and I did my best to stay away from him, as well as his brother.

All in all, everything was going good.

"Glenn, you be careful, okay? This is the first time you're taking a group into the city, right?" I asked, looking up at Glenn.

He nodded. "Yeah… it's still a small group, so I think I can handle myself. If I have to, I'll leave them in a protected area and go get whatever stuff we need." It was a plan, but it was a stupid one. In fact, the whole thing was stupid, taking a group.

The group going into the city no longer consisted of solely Glenn. Shane, getting paranoid about the number of walkers that resided in Atlanta, demanded that Glenn take a group on his next run. If that wasn't bad enough, Glenn couldn't even choose who he took with him. Shane got to decide, and he chose Andrea, who volunteered, Jacqui, T-Dog, Morales, and, to everyone's surprise, Merle.

I sighed. "Just be sure that you – that all of you – come back in one piece. Or-or I think Shane might throw a hissy fit and take it out on all of us." Glenn laughed. "I mean it, Glenn. Be so careful out there."

He grinned again. "No worries, Reina. You know that I can be careful."

"Glenn! Five minutes to go! Get your Asian ass out here, _now_!"

Both of us nearly groaned at Shane's loud yells. "Well, Glenn… you'd better go. I'll see you." He nodded, biting his lip and finally having the decency to look the least bit nervous. I put a hand on his arm. "Hey, hey… you'll be fine."

The young Asian nodded again. "Yeah. Thanks, Rei. Later." He turned around and, with one last glance at me, he walked towards his group that would take him into the city.

{ the walking dead }

"Hey, Rei… Dixon never came out of his tent for breakfast." I looked up sharply at Josh, who had more or less become Shane's right hand in the three months.

I frowned. It'd been hours since Glenn and his group left. Dean had stayed with Amy for the past few hours, consoling her and telling her that it was all going to be okay. Kira, along with the rest of the women, were taking care of the clothing and the food. Alison was attempting to help Shane fix the CB, and the twins were on animal duty that day.

Josh sighed. "Go give him what he needs to eat. Even rednecks don't deserve to starve." In the time that we'd been in camp, the two of us, along with the rest of our siblings, had more or less adopted the same distaste for the Dixons that others did.

Practically ripping the plate out of his hand, I spat, "Fine. But you owe me for this." He just nodded as I stood up and stalked over to the tent that belonged to the Dixons. "Stupid asshole of a brother, always making me do his stupid shit for him… Why do I even put up with him?" I grumbled.

"Put up with who?" a southern accent drawled from behind me.

I whirled around to see Daryl Dixon standing only a few feet away, a string of squirrels slung over his shoulder and his crossbow in the other hand. I pursed my lips. He frowned, looking at the squirrels.

"That's disgusting," I deadpanned.

He just shrugged. "Y'all gotta eat somethin', right? Meat's good for ya. Y'all might as well get used to it, 'cause it ain't gonna get any different from here." I rolled my eyes. "Whatcha here for? Y'all don't come lookin' for me."

I practically shoved the plate into his hand, making him drop the squirrels. "You were out. Missed breakfast and missed your brother leaving for planet hell. I'll take these…" I gingerly picked up the string of squirrels. "… and you eat."

Without another word to the southern man, I turned and walked away.

{ the walking dead }

Daryl raised an eyebrow as he watched the girl go. She'd avoided him up to the point of contact only a few moments prior, but other than that, she hadn't spoken to him. Ever.

In fact, he didn't even know her name.

But he watched, slightly amused, as she held the squirrels with two fingers, desperately trying not to touch them. It was clear how much disgust she held for the "gross" things. Daryl just grinned, amused by her disgust towards what might one day save her life.

He'd prove it to her soon enough, that those squirrels were good for her, and for the rest of that damned group.

He shook his head, looking down at the plate of food that she'd left him. It wasn't much, but it was definitely something. Sitting, Daryl quickly ate his food, and looked up. He'd go hunting again, probably in just a few hours. For now, the squirrels were enough.

… those dipshits better have appreciated that.

{ the walking dead }

Contrary to popular opinion, Daryl Dixon didn't seem that bad. He and his brother had isolated themselves pretty early on, apparently. But Daryl mostly kept to himself, rather than his brother, who was just plain obnoxious. Daryl didn't actually seem too bad.

I dropped the squirrels next to Amy and Dean, who were talking quietly. Amy jumped a bit before looking at the arrow-pierced squirrels. "Ew," she groaned. "That is disgusting…" She frowned, looking away.

Dean, with his pursed lips, looked up at where I was standing. "I'm guessin' that Dixon's back? Or, one of 'em is?"

"Yeah, Daryl," I affirmed. There was silence between the three of us. "What about Lori? Where's she?" There was a look exchanged between Dean and me. "Oh shit. Again…? Really?" Dean just nodded.

Again, Lori had snuck off and was most likely having sex with Shane somewhere out in the woods. It was ridiculous, how they snuck around like that. But honestly, I was sure that everyone from here to the moon knew that they were sleeping together.

I bit my lip. "Okay… I'll go relieve the twins and feed the horses and Lobo. You two need anything?" I asked. They both shook their heads.

Picking up the bucket of grain, I headed off towards the horse trailer. The horses were getting thinner, but they were still strong. For that, I was grateful. Pulling open the back door, I stepped into the trailer. The horses turned to me, nickering quietly.

The twins' heads poked out of the stalls of their respective horses, Heracles and Tora. Shawn nodded, then went back to tending to Heracles, stroking his nose gently. Willy, however, grinned, waved, and bounced out of Tora's stall.

"We already fed them! Leave it outside, 'kay? We'll take care of it tomorrow, too, and maybe the other kids could help us?" he asked, becoming his usual bubbly self. I nodded, ruffling Willy's hair.

He grinned up at me. "Alright, you got it. I'm going to find Lobo now, do you know where he is?"

Willy shook his head. "He was with Carl and Sophia, but I don't know where he went after we started to feed the horses," Shawn answered instead, walking out of Heracles' stall.

I nodded. "Right. Thanks, you two."

Shawn nodded, then added, "Shouldn't Glenn be back by now?"

I froze. "Well, they probably had to find another way to transport all the stuff. You know?" They exchanged a look, but nodded, although skeptical. I scowled slightly at their faces. "Go play."

They scattered quickly as I exited the trailer as well.

"Lobo!" I called, trying to stay quiet, but be heard. "Lobo, come on, this isn't funny! Get out here, now! Stupid dog…"

There was a bark from somewhere in the camp. I stood up straighter and began to walk towards the source of the noise, calling my dog's name. I got several barks in response.

When I finally found him, he was sitting with someone, being fed scrap meat. I grinned a little. "You know, if you spoil him too much, he'll get used to it." Daryl looked up at me, raising an eyebrow. "His name is Lobo."

Daryl reached down, scratching the mutt behind his ears. "He yours?"

"Yeah, more or less. He was the runt, which is why he's kind of a shrimp, at least if you compare him to other huskies."

The redneck nodded, seeming to understand, and went back to scratching the dog behind his ears and feeding him scrap meet. "He's an obedient thing, ain't he?"

I nodded again, moving forward to sit next to Lobo on the ground. Daryl had taken back his string of squirrels and was now cleaning them, by skinning and gutting their small, furry forms. I almost wanted to puke. He noticed this, and let out a low chuckle.

Just from his laugh, I began to realize how different that he and his brother were. Sure, Daryl and Merle were equally vulgar towards the men, but Daryl had never said a bad word towards any female in the entire camp.

"He likes you. That's a feat in itself." Daryl nodded, tossing down another scrap of squirrel meat to Lobo. The impatient dog immediately snapped it up and began chewing. "I don't know how you two can stand that stuff. The smell reminds me too much of those geeks."

Daryl looked down at me, where I was stroking Lobo's head as he chewed on the meat. "Hey, c'mere. Lemme show ya somethin'." I frowned a little. "I ain't gonna bite ya or nothin'." I reluctantly pulled myself up to sit where he was, when I heard thunder rumbling in the distance.

"Shit," I swore. "Glenn…"

The southerner drew my attention away from my missing friend with only a few words, "I never got yer name."

I frowned, my mind still on Glenn and his whereabouts. "Reina… Mayer… Reina Mayer." He just nodded and continued to skin his squirrels in silence, the occasional bark from Lobo breaking it.

A few minutes passed like this. "Hey, Daryl…" He just grunted. "Do you have an extra knife? I've skinned stuff before… So…"

"Need somethin' to take yer mind offa the Chink and the rest of 'em?" he asked bluntly, his voice void of emotion. I nodded. He sighed and pulled a large knife from his belt. "Here. Don' screw 'em up."

I nodded again. "Right."

After that, I lost track of time. I just sat there, skinning squirrels with Daryl, occasionally feeding some of the scraps to Lobo. There was no conversation between the two of us, but it honestly felt much better that way, not having to converse with him.

I kept reminding myself that Lobo, and the fact that he'd taken to Daryl, was the only reason I was spending any time at all with the redneck. He was still violate, with a bad temper and an even worse mouth.

"Hey." I looked up again to see Daryl with his crossbow. "Yer done. I'm goin' huntin', be sure to tell his highness that." I nodded, stifling a laugh at his nickname for Shane.

He didn't say anything else, just turned his back and began to walk away, into the forest where the wild things lived. I just shook my head and stood, ushering Lobo along with me, heading back to where we'd left our cars.

Daryl Dixon, huh?

He was a much more interesting person than I thought. There was definitely more to him than met the eye.

* * *

**The Walking Dead. Need I say more? This is a Daryl Dixon/OC romance. Rather than just introducing one character, who is the main character, I've decided to introduce many other characters with personalities. This is not only a work of fiction, but a character study. Believe it or not, this will also be my final piece of work for my sophomore year. So it'd be great if I could get some feedback, as well.**

**The fiction is named for the song "Broken Wings" by Mr. Mister, and that's where the summary comes from. I'll be closely following seasons one and two, but season three will take a turn. It won't take a turn like, they won't go to the prison, but it will differ in character death and relationships. I hope that you guys support it.**

**Also, I apologize for not updating "Only Human" as often as I should have. I kind of lost inspiration for the story, but I'm slowly getting back into it. I reread the novel and rewatched the film a dozen times. So I will most likely be able to continue the fic, and I hope you guys stay true to this, I really do. Thanks!**

**Anyways, here are the characters.**

**Kira Mayer, 29. Joshua Mayer, 27. Dean Mayer, 24. Reina Mayer, 21. Alison Mayer, 18. Willy and Shawn Mayer, 15.**

**Kira is the oldest sibling. She's positive, happy, and loyal, always looking out for her siblings. Her former occupation was as a nurse. Her weapon of choice is a Glock 19 and a set of throwing knives. I envisioned her as being portrayed by Anne Hathaway.**

**Josh is the second oldest, and is probably the most well-equipped for combat. He is not only a hunter, but at one point, was in the Marines. He uses two Ruger LC9's, three hunting knives, and a Savage Model 12 F/TR. I see him as being played by Chris Hemsworth.**

**Dean is the jokester, but knows when to be serious, and he's learning to get over his fear of blood. He was formerly a mechanic. His equipment is a Louisville Slugger, a sawed-off shotgun, a SIG Sauer P239, and a switchblade. Think Spencer Treat Clark.**

**Reina is the main character. She worked at the Louisville Zoo, as studied Veterinary Science. She's even tempered, and the one with the best head. She uses an IMI Desert Eagle, a hunting knife, and she picks up a bow and arrows later. I like Jennifer Lawrence for her.**

**Alison is the college student turned bitter and angry because of the deaths of her parents. She's super smart, but honestly, only book smart. She chooses to use a machete and a taser, but she has not chosen to use a gun as of now.**

**Willy is Shawn's twin brother. He's much louder and much more obnoxious than his twin, but he tries to act older than his fifteen years. He uses a Colt Ball and Cap Revolver, as well as a Bowie Knife and rope.**

**Shawn is Willy's twin brother. He doesn't speak as much as his twin, and he's mature beyond his years, and he's more reserved, as well. He uses a Colt Anaconda, along with a Bowie Knife and rope, like Willy.**

**I'll continue to expand on their characters as we go, I hope you liked this! I also hope I kept everyone in character and also managed to expand on some of the characters, mostly Daryl. Reviews are welcome!**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Walking Dead  
****Broken Wings  
****by BackyardFantasy**

**Chapter Two: Over the Rainbow**

* * *

"Glenn!"

I nearly tackled the poor boy after he got out of his shiny new, fire truck red, Dodge Challenger. He caught me with an 'oomph' and hugged me.

"I thought you died!" I exclaimed, nearly beginning to blubber like a baby. My voice had to be loud enough to be heard over the Challenger's loud alarm, which had presumably been triggered by the broken window.

Although he was clearly scared shitless, he was grinning. Probably the adrenaline. "I thought I was dead, too! But this guy came out of nowhere and saved all our asses!" he yelled. "By the way, can you shut this thing up?!"

Before I could move, Shane and Jim dug around in the hood of the car, stopping the alarm, while Amy bombarded Glenn with loud questions from her place in Dean's arms.

I looked around in excitement, looking for Daryl, who had disappeared only a few hours before. His brother was coming back, along with everyone else.

Glenn's smile dropped off his face. "Everyone's fine… well, Merle, not so much." I bit my lip.

Daryl was _not_ going to be happy.

"You crazy drivin' this wailin' bastard up here? You tryin' to draw every Walker for miles?" Shane demanded dryly, leaning over the hood. Dale attempted to protect Glenn, but even I had to admit that it was a stupid move.

Dale shrugged. "Well, that alarm was echoing all over these hills. Hard to pinpoint the source." Shane threw him the nastiest look he could muster. "I'm not arguing, I'm just saying." Dale then turned on Glenn, "It wouldn't hurt you to think things through a little more carefully next time, would it?"

I broke away from the group then, walking towards where I knew Daryl had disappeared to. "Damnit," I swore quietly.

A hand on my back made me jump, one of my hands going to my handgun. I whirled around to see Josh, who was standing behind me. I frowned, looking away from him. My brother just sighed, putting an arm around me and leading me away from the woods. My hand fell from my gun.

"You're worried about his reaction?" he asked quietly. I nodded, causing Josh to laugh a little bit. "We can calm him down." I let out a forced laugh as well. "Where the hell did he go, anyways?"

Looking up at my brother, I gave a short answer. "Hunting."

Josh just sighed, as if he'd been expecting that answer. The roar of a van's engine made me look up and sigh in relief. Everyone else came back, too.

The van parked right behind my Impala. Morales emerged first, quickly reuniting with his family. Andrea came next, Amy lunging forward to meet her, with Kira not too far behind to meet Jacqui. T-Dog jumped out, too, the twins both rushing forward to meet their pal.

It was a huge surprise, that there was one more person in the van, and it wasn't Merle.

But it was an even bigger surprise of who knew him.

He was wearing a cop's uniform, and he looked clean. Well, as clean as one can get after being in Atlanta. Shane stopped in his tracks, his eyes going wide. The cop stopped, too, staring right back.

The two were quickly interrupted by a nearly-crying Carl and a completely shocked Lori. Carl ran up, jumping into the man's arms, both of them practically sobbing. I realized then, that this man was Carl's father and Lori's husband. Lori followed quickly behind her son, wrapping her arms around her family in a huge hug.

However little I knew the family, I nearly started crying as well. My head fell on Josh's shoulder. His hand grabbed mine and squeezed as I held back tears. He rested his cheek on the top of my head.

{ the walking dead }

It was later that night.

The entire camp had either gone to bed or was sitting around the fire. The twins and Ali had gone to sleep. Kira was taking care of the horses one last time. Josh was on watch, and Dean was sitting with Amy and Andrea.

I barely heard the argument between Shane and Ed. Both of them were stubborn men, easily resorting to violence. I didn't want to hear it.

I sat in one of the trees, a plastic bow in one of my hands. I was staring out into the woods. There was a quiver sitting on my back, full of arrows. It'd been a while since I'd held a bow in my hand. Since this whole shit-storm started, in fact. Now, it seemed like archery was a much better choice than gunslinging, at least to face those "walkers."

Suddenly, I heard Dale's voice, faintly, but I heard it. "Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon? He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind." That was true, he'd throw a fit.

"I'll tell him. I dropped the key, it's on me." Oh, T-Dog, always too nice to everyone.

Rick, however, cut in, "I cuffed him, that makes it mine."

Why they were fighting over who had the _honor_ of telling Daryl that his brother was probably dead was beyond me. "Guys, it's not a competition." Glenn, ever the voice of reason, stated, "I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy."

There was a moment of silence. T-Dog then said, "I did what I did. Hell if I'm gonna hide from it."

Amy's brilliant suggestion was, "We could _lie_."

"Or tell the truth," Andrea replied. "Merle was out of control. Something had to be done, or he'd have gotten us killed. Your husband did what was necessary." Clearly, she was talking to Lori. "If Merle got left behind, it is nobody's fault, but Merle's."

Well, that was definitely going to go over well with Daryl. Didn't matter that he wasn't as bad as his brother, he was still racist and quick to anger.

"… and _that's_ what we tell _Daryl_?" Dale asked dryly, voicing my thoughts. "I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that. D'you?" There was no reply. "Word to the wise; we're gonna have our hands full when he gets back from his hunt."

Once again, there was a brief silence. "I was scared, and I ran. I'm not ashamed of it," T-Dog said.

"We were all scared, we all ran. What's your point?" Andrea asked.

T's reply was quick, certain. "I stopped long enough to chain that door. Staircase is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at any one time. 'S not enough to break through there. Not that chain, not that padlock." He paused. "My point… Dixon's alive, and he's still up there, handcuffed to that roof. That's on us."

There was complete silence after that. Just the crackling of the small fire and the chirping of the forest in the back.

{ the walking dead }

I'd fallen asleep in the tree that night, so I woke up with a sore back. I was almost unable to move in the morning, but I had my bow with me. It made me feel so much stronger than I felt with a gun.

"Josh, any sign of Daryl yet?" I asked, suddenly feeling worried about him. He'd been gone for almost eighteen hours now. Josh shook his head, and I attempted to shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Why did I even care? Daryl was still an arrogant, racist redneck.

I sighed and walked away, towards the picnic table near the Dixon's tent. I passed Glenn and Rick, who were watching Jim, Dale, and Morales strip down the beautiful Challenger they'd stolen. Glenn's distraught face almost made me laugh, he looked so upset at the simple idea of watching the car being absolutely destroyed.

Shane's truck drove right past me, practically bowling me over, signaling the fact that water was in the camp once more.

I didn't get any further before hearing a scream, along with several yells. Along with probably half the camp's adults, I ran towards the source of the voices. The kids barreled out of the woods, into their mothers' arms.

Glenn, Dale, Rick, Shane, Morales, Jim, Josh, and I, along with Andrea, Amy, and Dean, ran past them, notching an arrow into the bowstring.

I stopped at the disgusting sight that lay before me. Amy looked as if she was about to throw up. A walker was digging into the neck of a deer. The walker stood slowly, facing Rick. Rick almost immediately put it down, slamming into the ground. Shane went next. One by one, the men began to beat the walker.

I looked over the deer, seeing several bolts sticking out of its body. I frowned once more, even deeper this time. Daryl was definitely going to be seriously pissed off.

"Sonuvabitch." I frowned. Cue hell being raised. "That's _my_ deer!" Daryl Dixon, a very _pissed off_ Daryl Dixon, walked out of the brush. "Look at it, all gnawed on by this… filthy, disease-bearin', motherless, poxy bastard!" I nearly started laughing at his choices in words, accentuated by a kick to the walker's now-headless body, courtesy of Dale.

Said older man frowned, his voice tired. "Calm down, son. That's not helping."

Daryl, still angry as hell, was immediately up in Dale's face. "What d'you know about it, ol' man?! Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to _On Golden Pond_?"

Woah. 1981 film reference. Nice one, Daryl.

"I been trackin' this deer for miles," he continued angrily, circling the deer. He ripped the three bolts from the deer's hide. "Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison." He knelt next to where the walker chewed through the deer. "What d'you think? D'you think we can cut around this chewed part right here?"

Okay, a deer was a large amount of meat, definitely enough to last the large number of us for a while. But there was no way that the risk was worth the reward.

"I would not risk that," Shane deadpanned.

Daryl heaved a great sigh. "That's a damn shame. I got some squirrel… about a dozen or so. That'll have to do." He gestured to the string of at least a dozen squirrels that was hanging over his shoulder.

Suddenly, from pretty close to where I was I saw the head of the walker move. I guessed that the brain hadn't been destroyed. With a small grunt, I drew back the string of the bow and shot the arrow right into the skull of the walker.

Daryl looked up at whoever who had shot the arrow. His eyes landed on me, and they narrowed slightly. I frowned, moving forward. Daryl was quicker, ripping the arrow from the dead skull and wiping it on his pants. He held it back out to me.

"C'mon people, what the hell? It's gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothin'?" he drawled. I warily grabbed the arrow, holding it in my fist as I slung the bow over my shoulder.

Daryl walked away, and I pulled away to follow after him. "Daryl, wait…" He ignored me. "Daryl…"

Instead of stopping to speak to me, he yelled, "Merle! Merle, get yer ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel!" He heard me following, almost yelling his name. "Let's stew 'em up!"

I fell back as Shane took the lead. "Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you."

Daryl did so. He at least seemed to know who the authority was around camp. "About what?" he asked.

The bulkier man pulled himself in front of Daryl, who had stopped walking. "About Merle. There was a, uh…" Shane hesitated for a moment. "There was a problem in Atlanta."

Pausing for a second, Daryl seemed to begin to choke up. "He dead?"

"We're not sure."

That wasn't good enough for Daryl. "He either is or he ain't!" he yelled.

At this point, sensing the rising levels of testosterone in the air, Rick stepped forward, apparently hoping to quell the conflict quickly and easily. "No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it."

Not letting him speak, Daryl turned on him. "Who're you?" Daryl demanded dryly.

Rick bit his lip and stared Daryl right in the eye. "Rick Grimes." The testosterone levels were still rising, and it was clear in the air as Josh put a hand on his knife.

The southern drawl in Daryl's voice was evident as he demanded, "_Rick Grimes_, you got somethin' you wanna tell me?!" His anger was rising to a boiling point. The tension in the air was reaching a peak.

But it was Rick's blunt, honest words that put them over the edge of sanity. "Your brother was a danger to us all. So I handcuffed him to a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there."

And for a moment, everything stopped. "Hold on… lemme process this." Daryl paused. "You're sayin' you _handcuffed_ my brother to a _roof_. And you _left him there_?!"

For once, I could see the tears in his eyes. My heart nearly broke for him. Daryl only had Merle. Because of this, the two brothers were much closer than most family would be. They were shunned by the rest of the camp because of their short fuses and their boorish language. So, they were more alone than ever. Now, Daryl had lost the only person he had left. If that didn't push someone over the edge, I didn't know what would.

The violence was quick, angry.

It'd been Daryl who made the first move. It wasn't surprising, but it was much more understandable than it used to be. He lunged for Rick. Shane quickly tackled him, tossing him against the Winnebago, then to the ground. Daryl's next instinct was to go for a knife. He lunged at Rick once more, swiping at the man with the sharp blade. Shane had Rick's back, holding Daryl in a chokehold.

I gasped, and stepped forward as Daryl's face began to turn red. Josh's hand stopped me. He'd grabbed my wrist and pulled me back towards him, shushing me as I tried to make him let me go.

Yet I still heard Daryl yell, "You'd best let me go!"

Shane's blunt reply was, "Nah, I think it's better if I don't."

Daryl tried once again to fight, arguing, "Chokehold's illegal." His words were very suffocated, I could tell Shane wasn't letting up on the hold at all. I bit my lip, struggling against Josh's strong hold once more.

"You can file a complaint," Shane drawled. I could hear Daryl gasping for breath. I instinctively bit down on Josh's shoulder. He drew in a sharp breath, pulling away. His grip loosened enough for me to get out of his hold. "C'mon, man, we'll keep this up _all _day."

I frowned and snapped, "C'mon Shane, poor guy's had enough. He just lost his brother, for pity's sake. Take it easy." Shane looked up at me with a raised eyebrow, questioning why I was standing up for _Daryl Dixon_, of all people. But I never yielded. I just kept that frown on my face.

He then looked to Rick, who turned to Daryl. "I'd like to have a _calm_ discussion on this topic. D'you think we can manage that?" he asked slowly. "D'you think we can manage that?" Rick repeated when Daryl didn't answer.

And honestly, it wasn't that Daryl didn't answer, but that he couldn't. Shane still had a tight chokehold around Daryl's neck.

"Oh, because he can definitely answer with your arms practically killing him," I spat sarcastically.

Once again, Shane threw me a dirty glare before tossing Daryl to the ground carelessly. I knelt down next to him and put a tentative hand on his shoulder. He just pushed me away, still visibly angry and hurt by the fact that his brother had been simply abandoned, and so easily, and then even more so at the fact that, apparently, he wasn't allowed to feel angry or sad or even upset about that.

Rick knelt before Daryl, and began speaking slowly again, as if speaking to a child. "What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others." Daryl didn't look Rick in the eye, but they both looked up as T-Dog began to speak.

"It's not Rick's fault," the African-American said softly. "I had the key. I dropped it."

Daryl's voice was dripping with disbelief. "You couldn't pick it up?" he asked, sounding almost hopeful.

T-Dog quickly amended, "I dropped it in a drain."

The redneck snorted in disbelief, but his face fell, as did his entire body. He appeared to be curling into himself. Rick stood, but I once again attempted to comfort the broken Dixon, placing a hand on his shoulder once more. He kept trying to shake me off.

But then, he stood and walked forward, snapping, "If it's s'pposed to make me feel better, it don't."

I frowned. "Well, maybe this will." Daryl stopped, turning to face T-Dog. "Look, I chained the door to the roof, so the geeks couldn't get at him. With a padlock."

Rick, who'd been silent for a few moments, added, "It's gotta count for something."

Daryl looked between the two of them for a moment, then hung his head again. I scrambled up, and frowned, seeing his face scrunch up, as if he was about to start crying. He wiped his eyes, attempting to hide his tears from the world.

"Hell with all y'all!" he yelled, a clear crack in his voice. Both his eyes were teary, and his voice was weak. "Just tell me where he is, so's I can go get 'im."

Lori, who'd been watching, slowly said, "He'll show you." Her face was both sympathetic and stern as she looked at Rick. "Isn't that right?"

Although Rick looked like he wanted to protest, he looked at all of the expectant faces around him. "I'm going back," he finally said.

Daryl pushed past Rick, storming off to his own tent. "Daryl," I tried once more as he passed. "Hey!" I cried, rushing off after him. He practically pulled the tent flap off of the tent, storming inside. I just followed. "Daryl, listen to me, I…"

I trailed off when I saw the tears streaming down his face.

"What d'you want?!" he practically yelled, seeing me standing there, in the entrance of his tent. "Get out! Now!"

Taking a deep, shuddering breath, I shook my head. "No… no, no one should be alone during something like this. Least of all… someone who just lost the person who means the most to him."

His eyes watered again as the tears overflowed, pouring down, over his cheeks. "Ya have all yer brothers and sisters. Ya ain't got no reason to say ya understand or some shit like that," he snapped, looking anywhere but me. I just frowned more and sat on one of the cots. "Hey! Watch it, this ain't your home."

I just looked up at him. "I know. And mind you, I never said that I understand what you're going through. I just said that no one needs to be alone during all this shit. I mean… you just found out that your camp abandoned your brother. I think you have every right to be pissed. And you don't have to hide that you're angry or sad."

"Why?" I looked up at him. He was still looking anywhere but at me. "Why're ya so… understandin'? And you actually seem like ya give a damn."

Pulling my feet up to sit criss cross, I smiled softly and sadly. "Because I have a big family, and for a while, we only had each other. Now they're all off with this huge camp, and… quite honestly, I feel kind of alone. I have more people than ever, but I feel like I don't. And if I lost everyone… I wouldn't know what to do. I'd probably be worse than you, if Josh or Kira or the twins were abandoned and left for dead. No one would be able to calm me down. There'd be no reasoning with me."

He let out a soft, dry chuckle. "Yeah… I can imagine what you'd do, 'specially with that bow ya got."

I pursed my lips. "Shut up." My eyes suddenly landed on the string of squirrels that was still lying there. "Do you want me to clean those? I'm in charge of dinner tonight, and I can sure as hell make a good… uh… squirrel-kabob. I used to barbeque with my dad all the time."

Daryl looked at the squirrels for a second and then gave them to me. "Go nuts," he said, walking out of the tent.

"I'll save some for you and Merle. When you both get back."

He stopped as he pushed the flap open. He didn't look back, but he nodded. I could've sworn I heard him mutter something, but I didn't question it as he left the tent. I smiled softly and picked up the squirrels again, walking towards the picnic table, watching Daryl as he prepared to leave to find his brother.

{ the walking dead }

It'd been hours since they left. All of my things were in the Impala, as was I. I'd cleaned all the squirrels, but it was nowhere near dinnertime yet. I just hoped that not everyone was getting tired of squirrel almost every night.

Rick and Daryl, along with Glenn and T-Dog, departed in the cube van that they'd come back in almost two hours earlier.

Not only did they go back for Merle, they went back for the guns that Rick had brought and Dale's tool bag that was dropped, as well. But Rick also had another reason to go. Inside the bag he'd dropped, along with the guns, was a walkie-talkie. It was incompatible with the CB or any other radio. The person who held the other was a man named Morgan and his son, who had taken Rick in after he woke up from his coma.

And for that reason under his belt, along with the promise of guns, Dale's tools, and the chance to find Merle Dixon and atone for what he'd done by accident, Rick brought three men along with him to the pit of hell.

I sighed, laying down in the small backseat of the black Impala. In the front seat were my weapons. In the trunk was the rest of my stuff, including a little food that we'd decided to keep hidden, just in case we were in an emergency and we had nothing else.

To be honest, I was insanely worried about Rick. About Glenn. About T-Dog. And about Daryl.

There was nothing more I wanted to do than scream.

Kira had made herself useful pretty quick. One of the kids caught a cold, and she was using some of her medicine that she'd taken from the pharmacy she used to work at. Not only did she work at the pharmacy, but she was apprenticing as a nurse, too. She was one of the very few, very valuable people with medical training.

Josh and Dean made good additions, too. Josh became the right-hand man of the group in less than a month, especially after they found out that he'd been in the marines at one point. Dean helped Dale and Jim work on the radiator hose of the Winnebago, which was, according to Dean, "busted up beyond any hope of repair." His mechanic skills finally came in good use.

Alison taught the kids about whatever she knew. She taught them mostly advanced stuff, but even she and the twins were able to be of some use. The twins were like messengers, running around and delivering stuff to everyone.

But then, there was me. I couldn't do much. I worked with _animals_, not people. I mostly took care of Lobo and the horses. But I was nervous. The horses were slowly starving, and we were running out of things to feed them. Sileni was the one I'd raised since she was a colt, I wasn't about to go off and leave her alone like that. Lobo was easier to handle, and he fit in with the group.

The trailer was just as big, if not more so, than the Winnebago. If we had to move, I wasn't sure that we'd be able to take the horses with us. I hoped we would be able to.

A tap on my window made me sit up. A smiling Amy stood there with a bucket and laundry in hand. I shook my head with a slight grin and quickly jumped into the front seat, then slid out the door on the driver's side.

"Hey, we're doing some laundry down at the quarry. Since Kira and Alison are both kind of busy, I was wondering if you'd like to help?" she asked sheepishly.

I shrugged. "Sure, I have nothing else to be done. Let me just get my family's laundry, because Lord knows they're too damn lazy to do it themselves, especially your boyfriend." She blushed. "Don't worry, I'll let you handle his underwear."

She just sputtered, turning red. I let out a laugh. "Sh-shut up!" she yelled. I grinned. "Go get your damned laundry."

Amy waited as I ran around, gathering the dirty clothes from the past few days of my brothers and sisters. The two of us began to laugh and joke around as we walked down to the quarry. My eyes flew to the Dixon's tent as we passed it. I grabbed Amy's arm.

"Wait here for a minute. I'm going to… to get something." She gave me a weird look. "Just… just stay here." I pushed past her, and slowly entered the tent.

If I'd been expecting anything to change, I was let down. Daryl hadn't been in the tent since he left. I wondered if I was hoping that he had been. I just shook my head and began moving around the tent, slowly picking up the dirty clothing strewn around the floor. I put it into a small bucket that I found on the floor, and almost puked at the smell.

Did the Dixon brothers ever wash their clothes, I wondered.

As I walked back out, Amy smiled weakly. "Did you get what you need in the Dixon tent?" she asked quietly. I nodded and held up the bucket. "Wait, you're doing their laundry?"

I nodded. "Yeah. They're not going to do it themselves, and no one else is going to do it for them. So I'll do it."

Her smile suddenly became real. "You're real nice to them, Reina. You sure you want to be that nice to them?" she joked. I nodded. "Well, just make sure that they deserve how nice you're being to them. Okay?"

"Okay."

The two of us continued down to the quarry, meeting Carol, Andrea, and Jacqui along the way. They were all holding laundry of their own. Unfortunately, it seemed that I was doing the laundry of the most people. Myself, my six siblings, and the two Dixon's laundry.

At least Amy kept her mouth shut about it.

Jacqui eyed the boys that were just across the body of water. Shane and Carl were fooling around with buckets and nets, splashing into the water like it was their playtime.

She pursed her lips. "I'm beginning to question the division of labor here," she stated dryly as she and Andrea brought down two large basins and the laundry. I laughed at that. "Can someone explain to me how the women wound up doing all the Hattie McDaniel work?" asked Jacqui, looking up from her laundry.

Amy grinned dryly. "The world ended. Didn't you get the memo?" Even Carol cracked a small smile at that.

But that smile quickly vanished as her gaze landed on her husband. She quickly frowned and looked away once more. "It's just the way it is." Her voice was quiet.

I shook my head, finishing the last of Alison's clothes and tossing it over the clothesline to dry. All of Josh's things were dry. Amy had taken Dean's clothes, and Kira's were just about finished drying. The twins' clothes were washing at that moment, along with mine.

Andrea looked over and frowned. "Hey, do you want any help with that?" she asked. "You look like you still have a lot to go."

Looking up at her, I grinned. "Nah, I'm okay. It's a lot, but what do you expect? Boys get dirty pretty easily. It should be easy enough to clean it all off."

In truth, I was just absolutely sure Daryl would be mad enough that I went into his tent and washed his clothes without asking him. I didn't want him to be mad that I let someone else wash his clothing.

Hopefully he wouldn't put a crossbow bolt between my eyes.

Finally, after a few minutes of silence, Carol sat up. "I do miss my Maytag," she commented, adjusting the shirt that sat on her leg as she scrubbed it. I shook my head with a smile. Having a washing machine that _worked_ would've been such a relief.

We fell silent for a moment. "I miss my Benz, my sat nav," added Andrea.

Jacqui was next. "I miss my coffeemaker." Her voice was wistful. We all missed coffee. That sure would seem like a luxury from now on. But even when we got coffee, we had to do all that ourselves. Not that it was a bad thing, the coffee was worth it. "With that duel-drip filter and built-in grinder, honey."

… okay, _now_ she was making me sad.

"My computer," Amy said. "And texting." I laughed. Of course, kids from our generation would miss that stuff most.

I sighed. "I miss my animals. I miss working at the zoo. Hell, I even miss going to school." They laughed at my choices, but I stuck my tongue out. "Anything beats doing my brothers' dirty laundry by hand."

There was another short moment of silence, quickly broken by Andrea.

"I miss my vibrator."

There was a loud, collective laugh amongst the entire female group. Even I had to laugh at Andrea's blunt comment. Carol looked over to Ed. He wasn't looking at us. She then looked down and shyly admitted something.

"Me, too."

The collective laughter grew even louder with Carol's admittance, as well.

Although it was a little mortifying to admit, I guessed that all of us women missed sex and sex toys. I guessed it was just too bad for us that most of the attractive men were either taken or not interested.

Most being the keyword.

I sighed heavily, looking down at what I recognized as one of Daryl's shirts. I knew by the missing sleeves and the dirt stains that just wouldn't come out. I wanted to laugh, but the heavy feeling in my chest stopped me from making a sound.

"What's so funny?" Ed drawled, taking a drag from his cigarette as he walked up behind us. I bit my lip, looking up at him with disdain in my gaze. He'd always struck a wrong chord with me. Why no one did anything about it, I wasn't sure.

Andrea was quick to react, turning with a peaceful smile. "Just swapping war stories, Ed."

Oh, yes. War stories about sex and booze. The wild days, which never existed for me. Ah, college, how you look so amazing in the face of the apocalypse.

As for Ed and us women, he didn't turn around, just kept walking along as we did the laundry and giggled at jokes he didn't hear. Only Carol stayed quiet, a somber look on her pretty face.

Now Andrea frowned. She looked up at him, one eyebrow raised. "Problem, Ed?"

He snapped, "None that concerns you." Andrea nearly scoffed, turning back to the shirt she was washing and attempting to ignore his rude comments towards her. "Y'all focus on your work. This ain't no comedy club."

The blonde laughed in disbelief, looking up at him incredulously.

I frowned. "But you're not even moving your fat ass unless you're hungry. And even then you're bossing Carol around," I muttered. Only Andrea seemed to hear, which caused her to snort.

Minutes passed with tension between the group of woman and the lazy, fat, arrogant pig that stood behind us, smoking his cigarette.

Finally, Andrea was the one to snap. "Ed, tell you what. If you don't like how your laundry is done, you are welcome to pitch in and do it yourself. Here."

She tossed the shirt at him, which he immediately threw back in her face with twice as much force. "Ain't my job, missy," he drawled.

"What is your job, Ed?" she fired back, a glare coming over her pretty face. "Sitting on your ass, smoking cigarettes?"

Ed just took another drag from his cigarette. "Well, it sure as hell ain't listening to some uppity, smart-mouthed bitch, tell you what." He turned to Carol then, causing the fun, strong woman to revert to her meek and timid self. "C'mon, let's go."

Andrea jumped to Carol's defense. "I don't think she needs to go anywhere with you, Ed," she snapped.

The fat man turned to glare at Andrea as both Jacqui and I stood from our laundry baskets, preparing to intervene if needed. "And I say it's none of your business. C'mon now, you heard me," he demanded.

I turned to Carol, asking, "Are you sure about this?"

Andrea nodded. "Yeah, we could always just tell him to screw off."

"I'm fine," Carol replied softly, looking up at the two of us. I exchanged a look with Andrea, who shook her head.

Ed, seeing this exchange, drawled, "Hey. Don't think I won't knock you on your ass, just 'cause you're some college-educated cooze." Andrea gaped, making disbelieving sounds in her throat. "You c'mon now," he demanded. Carol just nodded weakly, following him. "Or you're gonna regret it later."

I'd heard enough. "How're you gonna make her, Ed? By beating her so bad she's got bruises up and down her body?" I snapped, stepping forward with a glare.

"She'll be sure to show up with fresh bruises later, won't she, Ed?" Jacqui continued, her voice wavering in disgust. "Yeah, we've seen 'em."

Ed just laughed, as if he couldn't believe that we had enough nerve to stand up to him. "Stay out of it," he snapped at both Jacqui and me, before turning to Carol. "Now c'mon! You know what? This ain't none of y'all's business. You don't wanna keep proddin' the bull here, okay? Now I am done talkin'. Come on." He grabbed the meek woman by her arm and began to drag her with him, clearly leaving her in pain from the force of his grip.

"No, no," Andrea protested, trying to pull Carol away from her abusive husband. Amy, Jacqui, and I jumped in, too, trying to keep our friend from being covered in bruises in the morning. "Carol, you don't have…"

Finally, Ed seemed to lose it. "You don't tell me what! I tell you what!" Then, his hand struck Carol's cheek. It left us all in shock and anger. "You think you can…"

It began a fight between the two groups of Ed and the women, all of us beating at Ed, trying to force him to let poor Carol go. We were all screaming at him, calling him every name in the book while he continued to grab at Carol.

Next thing I knew, Ed was on the ground, Shane looming over him threateningly, Ed now screaming. Shane tossed Ed to the ground and drove his fist into the other man's face repeatedly until I saw blood on Shane's fist and Ed's face.

By that time, everyone was screaming at him to stop the abuse. It wouldn't help a thing.

"You put your hands on your wife, your little girl, or anybody else in this camp one more time, I will not stop next time," Shane growled. There was a dangerous glint in his eye. "Do you hear me?" No answer. "Do you hear me?!"

Ed managed to mumble, "Yes."

Shane continued his threat. "I'll beat you to death, Ed."

As he walked away, Carol burst into tears, apologizing to her husband and begging for forgiveness. I frowned, watching Shane's retreating form.

I just hoped the group in Atlanta was faring a bit better than we were.

* * *

**End "Tell it to the Frogs."**

**Woo! One chapter per episode. It took my teacher a while to get to this chapter, but he finally finished, and woooooooooooooo. It's awesome, he's so cool. I got extra credit for this chapter, a 100! It was kinda cool.**

**So anyways, here's the newest chapter. Sorry it took so long, I'm one of _those_ writers. I write when I get inspiration, and I try not to push it. I have so little inspiration for everything right now. I think I'll have more next week with season 3's new episode! I'm excited!**


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